There are a lot of good ways to invest money for the future. But what's the best thing to do if you've lucked into a small financial windfall? If you've got advice, jump in and help out a fellow reader!

Lucky Find writes:

I was back at my parents' house over the holidays and was helping them clean out the attic. I came across several boxes of my own stuff from when I was a kid, including some old collectibles I'd been meaning to organize and sell for ages. I finally got around to putting everything up on eBay and sold almost all of it. I ended up making around $3700. And now, I'm trying to decide the best thing to do with it.

I have no debts (except for car payments). I contribute to a 401K already, at least up to the 6% my company matches for contributions. I don't make a lot of money, but I try my best to spend less than I make so my bills are pretty well covered. I'd like to do something useful with the money, but I just can't decide. Add to my emergency fund, put it into retirement savings, open a new investment account to play with? There are just so many options. Honestly, I'd like to be able to do some kind of short to medium term investment because there are some things I'd like to do in the next few years, like travel. But just dumping it into a savings account seems like a wasted opportunity.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Have some advice for Lucky Find? Post it below!

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